Juice Wrld
December 02, 1998
Jarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced "juice world"; stylized as Juice WRLD), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. His song "Lucid Dreams" has been played on the music streaming platform Spotify over one billion times. "Lucid Dreams" along with his earlier hit single "All Girls Are the Same" helped him gain a recording contract with Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.
December 02, 1998
Jarad Anthony Higgins was born on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the South Suburbs spending his childhood in Calumet Park and later moved to Homewood, where he attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and his father left, leaving his mother to raise him as a single mother alongside one older brother. Higgins' mother was very religious and conservative, and did not let him listen to hip hop. He was, however, allowed to listen to rock and pop music he found on video games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Guitar Hero, which introduced him to artists such as Billy Idol, Blink-182, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy, Megadeth and Panic! at the Disco.
2013
Higgins was a heavy drug user during his childhood and teens. He began drinking lean in sixth grade and using percocets and xanax in 2013. Higgins also smoked cigarettes, quitting in his last year of high school due to health issues.
2015
Higgins began to develop himself as an artist in his first year of high school. His first track, "Forever", was released on SoundCloud in 2015 under the name JuicetheKidd. Higgins recorded a majority of his first tracks on a cellphone, uploading them to SoundCloud in his sophomore year. His name changed from JuicetheKidd, a name inspired by his affection for rapper Tupac Shakur and his part in the film Juice, to Juice Wrld because it "represents taking over the world."
2017
His first track produced by his main producer Nick Mira, "Too Much Cash", was released in 2017. While releasing projects and songs on SoundCloud, Higgins worked in a factory, but was fired within two weeks after finding himself dissatisfied with the job. After joining the internet collective Internet Money, Higgins released his debut full-length EP, 9 9 9, on June 15, 2017, with the song "Lucid Dreams" breaking out and growing his following.
December 2017
In December 2017, Higgins released the three-song EP Nothings Different. It was featured on numerous hip-hop blogs, such as Lyrical Lemonade, which helped Higgins's track "All Girls Are the Same" gain popularity. In February 2018, a music video directed by Cole Bennett was released. Following the video's release, Higgins was signed to Interscope Records for $3,000,000 and a remix featuring Lil Yachty was previewed. "All Girls Are the Same" was critically praised, receiving a "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork. It was released as a single in April. "All Girls Are the Same" and "Lucid Dreams" were Higgins's first entries on a Billboard chart, debuting at number 92 and 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.
2018
Higgins stated his musical influences as being genre-wide going from rock music to rap music. Higgins stated that his biggest influences were rappers Travis Scott, Chief Keef, Kanye West and British rock singer Billy Idol. Higgins was among the ranks of openly vulnerable artists born from the emo rap scene inspired by West's influential fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Billboard writer Michael Saponara claimed, "If West and his sparse 808s were a tree, it would have grown another branch with the blossoming art displayed by fellow Chicago native Juice WRLD in 2018." During an interview with All Def Music, Higgins imparted, "I was singing 'Street Lights' like I had shit to be sad about. Kanye is a time traveler. That nigga went to damn near 2015 and came back with some sauce." His other influences included Wu-Tang Clan, Fall Out Boy, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, 2Pac, Eminem, Kid Cudi and Escape the Fate.
2018
Higgins' music has been branded as "emo" and "rock" leaning, "genre-bending" with music focusing on "every broken heart, every wounded feeling." More specifically, he has been labeled as hip hop. trap, emo rap, and SoundCloud rap. With a penchant for short, hook-heavy songs, Higgins seemed a leading figure for the current era of hip-hop. In 2018, the streaming platform Spotify named "emo rap" its fastest growing genre. Higgins achieved arguably the most mainstream success of any artist in the sub-genre. This was boosted by his collaboration with Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie. Higgins himself considered the emo label to be both negative and positive. He felt that music sometimes has to be a bit dark to reflect his belief that the world is not really a light or a happy place.
May 04, 2018
On May 4, 2018, "Lucid Dreams" was officially released as a single and given a video. It then went on to peak at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and quickly became one of the biggest streaming songs of 2018; it remains his most-streamed song, reaching over one billion streams on Spotify by January 2020. "Lucid Dreams" was followed by "Lean Wit Me" on May 22, peaking at number 68 on the Hot 100; Higgins' debut full-length Goodbye & Good Riddance, which had all three of the previous singles on it, was released the following day. On June 19, 2018, he released a two-song EP, Too Soon.., in remembrance of and dedicated to deceased rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion, the latter of whom was killed in a homicide case relating to robbery a day earlier. The song "Legends" from the EP charted under its debut at number 65.
July 10, 2018
"Wasted" featuring Lil Uzi Vert was released on July 10, 2018; it was Higgins' first single featuring a collaboration and, incidentally, the only song on Goodbye & Good Riddance with a featured guest. It debuted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next day, Higgins announced he was working on his next album. Following a series of leaks, Higgins' producer Danny Wolf released "Motions" on SoundCloud, giving the song an official release. On July 20, 2018, Higgins announced his first tour, "WRLD Domination" with additional acts YBN Cordae and Lil Mosey.
August 08, 2018
Higgins was featured alongside Sheck Wes on Travis Scott's song "No Bystanders", from Scott's third studio album, Astroworld. The song peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also made his late night television debut performing the song "Lucid Dreams" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on August 8, 2018. On October 15, 2018, the music video for the song "Armed and Dangerous" was released and the lead single for the collaborative mixtape, Wrld on Drugs with Future was also released, called "Fine China". The mixtape was released on October 19, 2018, via Epic Records. He also contributed to the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in December 2018, with a song from the soundtrack, titled "Hide", featuring American singer Seezyn.
December 2018
In December 2018, Ski Mask the Slump God confirmed that he and Higgins would release a joint mixtape called Evil Twins in 2019. The pair also announced a 2019 tour featuring 30 concerts across North America. Higgins' second studio album, Death Race for Love, was released on March 8, 2019, preceded by the singles "Robbery" and "Hear Me Calling". The album topped the Billboard 200 chart. He then embarked on The Nicki Wrld Tour, alongside Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj. Higgins released the music video for the song "Fast" from the album. Later that year, he released other singles: "All Night", with RM and Suga of BTS; "Hate Me", with Ellie Goulding; "Run"; "Graduation", with Benny Blanco; and "Bandit" with NBA YoungBoy, his last song released while he was alive, which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
December 08, 2019
On December 8, 2019, Higgins collapsed and died from a suspected drug-induced seizure at Midway International Airport in Chicago, after landing at Midway on a private jet from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. His death provoked an outpouring of grief across social media and the music industry. Higgins' funeral was held in Harvey, Illinois five days later, on December 13, 2019.
December 08, 2019
On December 8, 2019, Higgins was aboard a private Gulfstream jet flying from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles to Midway International Airport in Chicago, where law enforcement officers were waiting for the jet to arrive, as they had been notified by federal agents while the flight was en route that the jet was suspected to be carrying guns and drugs. Law enforcement later revealed they found three handguns and 70 lb (32 kg) of marijuana on the aircraft. They also stated several members of Higgins' management team aboard the flight attested that Higgins had taken "several unknown pills", including allegedly swallowing multiple Percocet pills in an attempt to hide them while police were on board the plane searching the luggage.
December 13, 2019
Higgins' funeral was held on December 13, 2019, at the Holy Temple Cathedral Church of God in Christ in Harvey, Illinois. Friends and family were in attendance, including collaborators Ski Mask the Slump God and Young Thug.
January 17, 2020
Higgins' first posthumous appearance was on Eminem's eleventh studio album Music to Be Murdered By on the track "Godzilla", released on January 17, 2020. "Godzilla" was very successful and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart.
January 22, 2020
On January 22, 2020, an announcement was posted on Higgins' Instagram account by members of his family and team at Grade A Productions. The announcement thanked fans for their adoration for Higgins and confirmed their intention to release music that he was still working on at the time of his death:
January 22, 2020
On January 22, 2020, the Cook County Medical Examiner stated that Higgins died as a result of toxic levels of oxycodone and codeine present in his system.
February 28, 2020
Higgins was included on the title track of G Herbo's fourth studio album PTSD, released on February 28, 2020. The track also features vocals from Lil Uzi Vert and Chance the Rapper. "PTSD" marked the first time that Higgins and Lil Uzi Vert had collaborated on a song since "Wasted".
March 13, 2020
On March 13, 2020, a remix of the single "Suicidal", from YNW Melly's debut studio album Melly vs. Melvin, was released that featured vocals from Higgins. The remix included a different verse and outro that Higgins had recorded. The song reappeared on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 20 following the release of the remix.
April 17, 2020
On April 17, 2020, the single "No Me Ame", a multilingual collaboration between Higgins, Jamaican record producer Rvssian and Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA, was released. A computer-generated image of Higgins as an angel appears in the background of the music video for "No Me Ame".
April 23, 2020
On April 23, 2020, Higgins' estate announced on his Instagram account that his first posthumous single, "Righteous", would be released later that night. "Righteous" was released at midnight on April 24, 2020, and an accompanying music video with footage of Higgins was uploaded to his YouTube channel. Higgins recorded the song at his home studio in Los Angeles. On May 4, Higgins' girlfriend announced the title of his upcoming third album and first posthumous album, titled The Outsiders. On May 29, the song "Tell Me U Luv Me" featuring Trippie Redd was released alongside a music video directed by Cole Bennett. "Go", Higgins' collaboration with Australian rapper, The Kid Laroi (whom Higgins mentored), was released on June 12, 2020.
July 10, 2020
On July 6, Higgins' estate publicly announced the title of the late rapper's first posthumous album had been changed to Legends Never Die. On the same day, Higgins' estate also released "Life's a Mess" featuring Halsey and "Come & Go" a few days later on July 8 featuring Marshmello. The album was released on July 10, 2020, with 21 songs and 4 singles that Higgins' estate claims "best represents the music Juice was in the process of creating". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Five of the songs reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending July 25, 2020: "Come & Go", "Wishing Well", "Conversations", "Life's a Mess", and "Hate The Other Side", which reached number two, five, seven, nine, and ten, respectively. Higgins is the third artist to ever accomplish this feat, the other two being the Beatles and Drake. "Life's a Mess" notably jumped from number 74 to number nine that week. At midnight on August 6, "Smile" featuring The Weeknd was released as a single. "Smile" was previously leaked on YouTube and SoundCloud under the name "Sad", though with an open verse in place of The Weeknd's.
Late 2020
In his song, "Legends" – which was dedicated to XXXTentacion, who was murdered in mid 2018 at age 20, and Lil Peep, who overdosed in late 2017 at age 21 – Higgins raps "What's the 27 Club? / We ain't making it past 21." Fans and media outlets commented that he had essentially predicted his own death, as he had died only days after his 21st birthday. He also died exactly 39 years after John Lennon, who Jarad would often mention in songs.
